Garmentmaking apparatus



Aug. 31, 1948.

J. ABRAMS GARMENT MAKING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 4. 1946 INVENTOR JOSEPH FBR'HMS ATTOR EY Aug. 31, 1948.

, Filed Oct. 4'. 19 16 J. ABRAMS GARMENT MAKING {\PPARATUS 2 Shee ts-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNE Patented Aug. 31, 1948 T D,",s rnres ,e fre T OFFICE of New York;

Application October 4, 1946, Serial No. 701,292-

This invention'relate's to garment making apparatus: More particularly, the invention pertains toan apparatus for making that'part of a garment at'which' a gathered piece of' cloth is sewed to an ungathered piece "of cloth.

One such'typic'alpla'ce is'the point of attachment of a sleeve to a garment body.' In the manufacture of garments it is customary to curve the sleeve into the shoulder. 'Ihi's is'accomplished by making the upperend of the sleeve larger'than the armhole, and gathering said upper end' to reduce 'itto the size of thearmhole whereby'to produce a-desired fullnessat the juncture of the sleeve and' garment body; According to conventional manufacturing methods, an operator manually gathers the upper end of the sleeve at the time it is sewed to the body. This gathering must'be uniform and at acertain predetermined rate in order to have the sleeve match the armhole; The performance of such an-operation requires great manual dexterity and skill which canbe acquired only over a long period of practice.

- -It is anobjectof the present inventionto provide means *for enabling anunskilled operator to easily andrapidly gather a sleeve-in the proper manner and stitch said sleeveto a 'garmentbody.

It is another object of the invention to provide a means for enabling anunskilled operator to quicklyand accurately gather the sleeve at exactly the predetermined uniform rate'required to secure aperfect match of the sleeve to an armhole.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a special but simple sewing machine attachment which can gather cloth uniformly, and simultaneously allow-the samet-o be stitched by a sewing machine to an ungathered tape.

Other-objects of the invention will-inpart be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangements of parts and steps of .operation which will be exemplified in the garment, device and method hereinafter described, and of which the scope of-application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings; in: which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of this'invention,

Fig. l-is a perspective view ofa mans coat fabricated with an apparatus embodying my invention; 1

, Fig.;2- isan enlarged sectional view-taken substantially 'alongthe-line 2-"2of-Fig-;- 1-,-the same 3 Claims. (01. na -132) being: explanatory of the appearance of the shoulder seam; the gathering stitch and the gather retaining tape;

' .Fig- 3 is a plan view of the inner panel of the coat sleeve prior to incorporation into the sleeve;

Fig.:4' is a view similar to Fig. 3 of the outer panel of the coat sleeve;

Fig. 5 is a perspective'view of the upper end of the coat sleeve before the same is gathered;

Fig. 6 is'a side view of the gathered coat sleeve;

Fig. 7 -is'-a fragmentar side view of the coat body in the region of the armhole;

Fig. dis a fragmentary sectional view through the stitching portion of a sewing machine embodying my invention;

Fig. 9 is a top view of said portion of the machine, the 'same being taken substantially along the line 99 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 isa sectional view taken substantially along the line l0|0 of Fig. 8.

- In general the several objects of my invention are carriedout'by providing an apparatus for gathering the upper end of a sleeve over the requiredportion of its periphery and simultaneous- 1y sewing said gathered end to an ungathered t'apewith' the aid of a special presser foot which enables these operations to be accomplished rapidly andacc'urately by an unskilled operator. The gathered eridof the'sleeve then is sewed to a garment around the armhole. A garment fabricated in the above manner is characterized by a single unbroken and ungathered length of tape extending from one end of the uniformly gathered sleeve portion to the other, and by two separate unbroken lines of stitching, one securing the gathered portion to the tape and the other securing the tape and gathered portion to the garment body.

The special presser foot is designed to cooperate with the feed dog of a sewing machine in such manner as to gather and feed the sleeve to the needle, and at thesame time to feed the tape in ungathered condition to the needle. Essentially this unique operation is effected by advancing the sleeve. and tape past the needle at different speeds, this being accomplished by feeding the sleeve in such fashion as to gather it and feeding the tape by means of the freshly gathered portion of thesleeve; Tothi-s end the presser foot includes a gathering means and a-tape guide which leads the tape to the needle without engaging the gathering means. This enables the gathered" sleeve, which now is stitched to the tape, to pull the tape forward at the speed of the gaththe sleeve crumples so that it is in gathered condition at the time of stitching. The tape guide directs the tape toward the needle along a path clear of the aforementioned zone and feed'dog element whereby the tape will be unaffected by the feed for the sleeve, but willbe' stitched to successive gathered portions. As said gathered portions are pushed beyond the needle they will pull the tape so that the tape will be taut (and, therefore, ungathered) at the point of stitching. Optionally the feed dog includes elements beyondthe needle to aid in pullingthe stitched material out from beneath the'presserfoot. These elements are located beneath the elevated undersurface of the presser foot so as not tointerfere with gathering, but they may be in the path of travel of the tape inasmuch as the stitched material is not firmly pressed against said elements and said elements do not, therefore, control the speed of feed of the gathered sleeve and tape.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1-7, 26 denotes a mans coat in which the sleeves 22 are prepared and joined to the coat body 24 pursuant to the present invention. The coat body is' entirely conventional and, before the sleeves are attached, has theusual exposed armholes 26 (Fig. '7). ,The sleeves also are in large part conventional and essentially constitute fabric tubes having a sloped upper end 28 (Fig. By way of example, each sleeve may comprise an inner fabric panel 3i] (Fig. 3) and an outer fabric panel 32 (Fig. 4) secured to each other along their longitudinal edges by rows of stitching 34, 36. The sides of a sleeve thus formed are straight, but the same must be rounded in at the upper end of the sleeve (except under the armpit) in order to impart the requisite fullness to the coat at the shoulder. According to my invention this is accomplished by uniformly mechanically gathering the sleeve along a predetermined zone 38- l0 (Fig. 6) of its upper edge and securing said gathered portion by a line of stitching 42 to a tape 44, e. g. a narrow piece of cloth, located inside the sleeve. Said tape serves to maintain the. gathered portion in a gathered condition. The degree of gathering likewise is predetermined and is such that the periphery of the now constricted upper. end of the sleeve will be substantially the same as the periphery of the armhole to which it is to be attached.

As will be pointed out shortly hereinafter, both the gathering of the sleeve and the stitching thereto of the retaining tape 44 are, pursuant to this invention, performed with a sewing machine. This serves two purposes. In the first place it obtains an absolute uniformity of gathering, so that the tape need not be broken at intervals later in order to enlarge the size of the upper end of the sleeve for the purpose of matching the size of the armhole. In the second place it enables the gathering to be made by an ordinary sewing machine operator unskilled in the special art of manually feeding two relatively large pieces of fabric at different speeds. Thus it eliminates the necessity of employing a specially 4 trained operator to manually gather the upper end of the sleeve, e. g. at the time said sleeve is sewed to the coat body.

The specially prepared sleeve now is disposed with its upper end adjacent the armhole, and the sleeve and coat body are secured together by a row of stitching 46 conveniently applied by an ordinary sewing machine.

The sewing machine 48 employed to carry out the aforesaid combined gathering and tape stitching operation is illustrated in Figs. 8-10. Said machine is conventional in most respects (particularly as to the parts omitted from the drawings) and includes the usual spring loaded presser bar 5flfreciprocatory needle 52, throat plate 54 and four-motion feed dog plate 56.

Apresser foot 58 embodying my invention has its shank 60 detachably secured in any suitable manner to the presser bar. Said foot has a tread 62 in which a needle opening 64 is formed. The undersurface of the tread in advance of the beedle opening is provided with a mound orv elevation 66 so that, in effect, the undersurface of the tread behind the needle opening comprises a recess or undercut 68. It is pointed out that the change from the high point of the mound to the recess may either be gradual as illustrated or abrupt, without basically affecting. the operation of vmy invention.

The presser foot also includes a tape guide 10, optionally in the form of a tube 12 of oblong cross-section. Said tube is integrally connected to the toe M of the tread B2 and guides the retaining tape 44 to the undersurface of the tread in a path intersecting the path of travel of the needle. The tape may emerge at the undersurface of the tread at the peak of the mound or in advance of or behind said peak.

The feed dog plate 56 has a pair of feed dog elements 16, 78 which press the sleeve 22 against the mound 66 and intermittently advance portions of the sleeve toward the recess 68. Inasmuch as the presser foot is undercut at the needle opening, the sleeve will crumple beneath this point and, therefore, be in gathered condition at the time of stitching. The elements 16, I8 may, as illustrated, extend beyond the needle opening to assist in feeding the'g'athered material out from underneath the presser foot.

The location of said feed dog elements is of particular importance in carrying out my invention. Said elements should be transversely offset from a line passing through the needle in the direction of travel of fabric advanced by the feed dog. More specifically, said elements should be offset laterally from the path of travel of the retaining tape so that said elements are unable to pressagainst andfeed thetape at that rate of speed which because of the pressure of the recess 68, would cause the tape to gather.

It will be appreciated that the foregoing construction, by avoiding the provision of feed dog elements in line with the tape in advance of the needle and at the mound, causes the sleeve but not the tape to be gathered under the needle. However, the tape will be stitched to the gathered sleeve so that as the gathered material is pushed out from under the presser foot it will pull the tape through the tape guide. Under these conditions the tape will be under a slight tension as it is stitched whereby the tape wil1 be ungathered.

An additional feeddog element 80 can be provided on the feed dog'plate, in line with the tape but behind the needle opening, in order to help feed the gathered sleeve and ungathered tape out from under the presser foot.

All of the feed dog elements operate through elongated slots 82 in the throat plate. Preferably the usual shuttle (not shown) is employed so that the stitching 42 will be of the two thread type. However, my invention may be satisfactorily practiced with a single thread stitch.

It will thus be seen that I have provided an apparatus which achieves the several objects of my invention and is well adapted to be employed successfully on a commercial scale.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above described, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination in a sewing machine, a throat plate, a presser foot having a tread, stitching means including a needle operative through an opening in said tread, an intermittently actuated feed dog having elements operative through openings in said plate, at least one of said elements being ahead of said needle, said tread being undercut across its entire width at and behind the needle opening to provide a downwardly depending mound across the tread ahead of the needle opening, whereby fabric intermittently fed by said elements will be gathered by crumpling beneath said needle opening, and means carried by said foot for guiding a tape to beneath said needle opening, the feed dog elements ahead of the needle cooperating with the presser foot to the side of the tape guiding means so that the tape guiding means guides the tape along a path clear of feed dog elements ahead of said needle, whereby the tape will be pulled to the needle by previously stitched gathered fabric portions and be ungathered as it is stitched.

2. In combination in a sewing machine, a throat plate, a presser foot having a tread, stitching means including a needle operative through an opening in said foot, an intermittently actuated feed dog having elements operative through openings in said plate, the elements ahead of said needle being offset from the needle in a direction transverse to the direction of feed, said tread being undercut across its entire width at and behind the needle opening to provide a downwardly depending mound across the tread ahead of the needle opening, whereby fabric intermittently fed by said elements will be gathered by crumpling beneath the needle opening, and means carried by said foot for guiding a tape to beneath said needle opening, the feed dog elements ahead of the needle cooperating with the presser foot to the sides of the tape guiding means so that the tape guiding means guides the tape along a path of travel in line with the needle and clear of feed dog elements ahead of the needle whereby the tape will be pulled to the needle by Previously stitched gathered fabric portions and be ungathered as it is stitched.

3. For use in a sewingmachine having a throat plate, a presser bar, stitching means including a needle and an intermittently actuated feed dog having elements operative through openings in said plate, the elements ahead of the needle being offset from the needle in a direction transverse to the direction of feed: a presser foot comprising means for detachable connection to the presser bar, said presser foot having a tread provided with an opening for the needle, said tread being undercut across its entire width at and behind the needle opening to provide a downwardly depending mound across the tread ahead of the needle opening, whereby fabric intermittently fed by said elements will be gathered by crumpling beneath the needle opening, and means carried by said footfor guiding a tape to beneath said needle opening, the feed dog elements ahead of the needle cooperating with the presser foot to the sides of the tape guiding means so that the tape guiding means guides the tape along a path of travel in line with the needle and clear of feed dog elements ahead of said needle whereby the tape will be pulled to the needle by previously stitched gathered fabric portions and be ungathered as it is stitched.

JOSEPH ABRAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 802,789 Woodward 1 Oct. 24, 1905 1,518,584 Kasralowicz Dec. 9, 1924 1,571,654 Tiedemann Feb. 2, 1926 2,407,383 Previdi Sept. 10, 1946 

